Unfortunately for the boys, they were also given a bottle of milk and a bamboo shoot as well and the pandas largely ignored all the racket and stuffed their faces.

The Backstreet Boys, and some pandas (Picture: Reuters)

Reports that the pandas began to cram the foodstuff into their ears soon afterwards remain unconfirmed.

After reforming as a five-piece last year, the Backstreet Boys are just starting their In A World Like This Tour – with China being their first stop. A new album of the same name is being released in July.

The eardrums of only five pandas were harmed in the making of the above film, which took place at the Chengdu Research Base of giant panda breeding in Sichuan province.